Duke Energy is asking state regulators if it can bump customers' rates up again. Duke says the
increases are to pay for infrastructure investments. The change would
increase customer costs of electric service by $86 million and for
natural gas by $44 million. A federal appeals court on Monday reinstated an antitrust lawsuit against Duke Energy that accuses the
company of paying kick-backs to corporations opposing a 2004 rate
increase.

A rally for “religious freedom”
will take place on Fountain Square today in response to federal health care
legislation requiring women to have abortions employers to
provide insurance that covers birth control. The law includes a
religious exemption, which bishops have said isn't enough.

New York City officials, including
Brooklyn Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke, are arguing that the city's
“Stop and Frisk” policy is racist. The policy allows police to
stop an individual and pat him or her down for contraband if they
suspect illegal activity. From USA Today:

Clarke says the program, known as "Stop, Question and Frisk"
or "Stop and Frisk," amounts to racial profiling. It is
based on a 1968 Supreme Court ruling that police could stop people on
the basis of "reasonable suspicion."

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin approved
class-action status for a lawsuit that alleges the practice subjects
people to race-based illegal searches.

Rick Santorum has formed a new conservative organization aiming to
recruit 1 million supporters to help get Barack Obama out of the
While House. No word on how Santorum's “Patriot Voices” group
will differ from the tea party patriots.

Black members of the Netherlands soccer team were subjected to
racist chants at their Euro 2012 practice facility in Krakow, Poland.
The team says fans were making monkey chants at the players.

LeBron James scored 45 points to lead the
Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics last night, forcing a deciding Game 7 for the
Eastern Conference championship. The Oklahoma Thunder await in the
NBA Finals.

Hamilton County has been killing people more often than Ohio counties of similar size, despite actually asking for the death penalty less often. Today'sEnquirer takes a look at the growing opposition to the death
penalty in other states and recent legislation and task forces aimed
at either studying its effectiveness or stopping the practice
altogether. Prosecutor Joe Deters says he's going to kill all the people who deserve it because the law is still the law.

Would you like to pay tolls or higher
gas taxes in order to have a new Brent Spence Bridge? No? Then you're
like a majority of people who take the time to respond to Enquirer polls.

City Manager Milton Dohoney plans to
ask City Council to raise the property tax rate in response to a
projected $33 million 2013 deficit that everyone knows was coming.

So last Thursday Romney held a surprise
press conference at Solyndra's shuttered headquarters. During his
prepared statement, Romney said:

"An independent inspector general
looked at this investment and concluded that the Administration had
steered money to friends and family and campaign contributors."

Romney then repeated the claim later in
the press conference.

Small problem: No inspector
general ever "concluded" such a thing, at least not based
on any written reports or public statements.

Wisconsin Gov./Union Crusher Scott
Walker holds a slight lead over his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee
Mayor Tom Barrett, according to a recent poll.

George Zimmerman is back in jail after
what his attorney is calling a misunderstanding over telling a judge
that he had limited money even though a website set up to fund his
legal defense raised more than $135,000.

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has already
had a rough week, having to give back more than $100,000 in campaign
contributions in response to an FBI investigation. Today The
Cleveland Plain Dealer's Politifact website looked into
one of the five claims made in Mandel's new 30-second TV ad, and it
seems to be pretty false. Mandel claims that his opponent, Democratic
Sen. Sherrod Brown, “cast the deciding vote on the government
takeover of health care." Politifact notes that since the
health care overhaul passed by the minimum 60 votes necessary, that
every vote was technically “deciding.” But, on the other hand,
Brown was an early supporter of the legislation, and it is widely
known that Ben Nelson of Nebraska was the final “yes” vote to
join. Plus, technically, Brown was the seventh person to vote because
it was taken in alphabetical order.

Ohio public schools have received a
waiver for parts of No Child Left Behind that will remove a
requirement to get all of their students proficient in math and
reading by 2014. Nineteen states have received the waiver, meaning
they'll have to create their own federally approved academic progress
standards.

Covington leaders are expecting staff
reductions as part of balancing the 2012-13 budget to cover $1.5
million that was left out. The city is facing $1.6 million in cuts to
public-safety services and about $700,000 across other departments.

Mitt Romney officially won the
Republican presidential nomination yesterday, but no one's talking
about it because all the stories involve Donald Trump and the fact
that his iPhone app misspelled “America.”

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has returned
more than $100,000 in campaign contributions in response to an FBI
investigation into 21 donors who had no record of giving to federal
campaigns and many appearing to have low incomes. Mandel, a
Republican, is running against incombent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Mandel's campaign treasurer Kathryn Kessler sent a letter to donors
explaining that any contributions appearing to be under investigation
would be refunded.

From The Toledo Blade:

Although the campaign provided a copy of the letter to The
Blade, it would not explain the timing of the decision or how long it
has been aware of the federal probe.

The Blade revealed the unusual pattern of contributions in
August.

The company's owner, Benjamin Suarez, and 16 of his employees
(plus some of their spouses) gave about $200,000 to Mr. Mandel and
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci (R., Wadsworth) last year. Each of those donors
gave $5,000, the maximum allowable amount, to one or both candidates.

The Ohio Senate yesterday passed new
fracking regulations, and the final version caused some environmental
organizations to change their stance on the bill. The Ohio
Environmental Council and the Sierra Club had both been neutral on
the legislation until changes were made forcing anyone suing over
chemical trade secrets to show current or potential harm, according
to The Enquirer. The regulations are part of Kasich's new energy bill
and easily passed both the Senate and House and is expected to be
signed by Kasich soon.

Cincinnati Public Schools says it will
apply for the latest available federal education grants, which amount
to nearly $700 million. The grants are geared toward helping schools
proceed with reform and innovation.

United Nations inspectors have
reportedly found uranium in Iran enriched beyond the highest levels
previously reported. One diplomat said the measure could actually be
a measurement error, though the reading could also mean that Iran is
closer to producing bomb-grade uranium than previously thought.

Scientists might be one step closer to
creating birth control for men after U.K. scientists found a gene
used to enable sperm to mature.

Mitt Romney's campaign has reportedly
entered an “audition phase” in its search for a vice presidential
candidate, and local boy Rob Portman is on the AP's speculative list. With three months to go before the Republican National Convention, Romney's people will soon be asking intensely personal questions of potential VPs, such as whether they've ever had marital problems, affairs or mental health counseling. In preparation, many Republicans are already speaking out against President Obama with hopes of sounding like a guy that can help Romney win in November.

The AP included in its rundown of the more high-profile candidates the strengths and potential weaknesses of each:

"The Republicans
who are informally auditioning would each bring different strengths —
and drawbacks — to the presidential ticket.

Ohio Sen. Rob
Portman supported Romney early, has a solid rapport with the
candidate and hails from Ohio, a critical battleground state that
could decide the election. But he wouldn't necessarily appeal
directly to Hispanic or women voters.

(Louisiana Gov.
Bobby) Jindal, the Louisiana governor, could help Romney turn out the
religious right and would add diversity to the ticket as an
Indian-American, but he struggled during a national debut rebutting
the 2010 State of the Union address.

Virginia Gov. Bob
McDonnell appeals to social conservatives but signed a controversial
state law that requires Virginia women to have ultrasounds before
having an abortion.

New Hampshire Sen.
Kelly Ayotte, who's campaigned frequently with Romney, could help
with female voters and in her swing state of New Hampshire. But she's
from New England, the same region of the country as Romney, while
(New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie, a conservative favorite who can
work a crowd, is from New Jersey.

(Florida Sen.
Marco) Rubio could bring Florida, always a deciding factor in a
general election, and appeal to Hispanics, a fast-growing voting
bloc, but he's run into some trouble over a foreclosed home and
possible misuse of an official credit card. And Ryan is a serious,
leading policy mind with a bright future — and a brand name that's
directly tied to a controversial budget that would make major changes
to Medicare."

A Columbus tavern owner has lost his
freedom isn't free battle in the Ohio Supreme Court, which yesterday
unanimously ruled that the state's smoking ban is constitutional. The
owner of Zeno's Victorian Village had racked up thousands of dollars
in fines after 10 citations for violating the ban from July 2007 and
September 2009. The state has reportedly threatened to seize the bar
if the fines are not paid.

The Reds defeated the Atlanta
Braves last night on a Todd Frazier walk-off home run in the bottom
of the ninth inning. It was the Reds' fifth straight win, and they're
currently a half game behind St. Louis for first place in the
division.

The Pakistan conviction of the Osama bin Laden doctor who helped
the CIA find him is not going over well with the U.S. government.
Pakistani authorities sentenced Shakeel Afridi to 33 years in prison
for treason, and Afridi was not entitled to representation, though he
has a right to appeal. The U.S. has threatened to cut aid to the
country, arguing that informants work against al-Qaeda and not
Pakistan.

Britain's recession is worse than expected, as the country's
economy shrunk by .3 percent during the first quarter.

John Malkovich is in the latest Apple
advertisement for Siri, during which Malkovich gets some life advice.
The ads follow those released starring Hollywood actors Zooey
Deschanel and Samuel Jackson last month.

We Are Ohio, the organization that helped repeal SB5 last year, says it will team up with
nonpartisan Ohio Voters First to help put on the November ballot a
constitutional amendment that would change the way legislative and
congressional districts are drawn. The effort is in response to
Republican-drawn redistricting maps that attempted to create 12
solidly GOP districts and four Democratic districts. The proposal
calls for a nonpartisan commission to redraw legislative and
congressional boundaries rather than letting politicians and anyone
who gives them money do it.

The University of Cincinnati has
released a study showing a considerable economic impact from
construction of The Banks. Between construction contractors, new
residents and visitors to the area's restaurants, the development reportedly will impact the local economy by more than $90 million a year.

The parent company of Cincinnati's
Horseshoe Casino will host two informational sessions this week to
offer local vendors information on how to bid on contracts for
supplies and services the entertainment complex will need. The first
takes place 6 p.m. tonight at Bell Events Centre near the casino site at 444 Reading Road,
and the second is 9 a.m. Thursday at Great American Ball Park.

The Enquirer on Tuesday reported that
the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University have agreed to
move the Crosstown Shootout to U.S. Bank Arena for two years in
response to last year's massive brawl. NBC Sports today reported that
the presents of both universities issued a press release in response,
stating that no final decision had been made.

The University of Cincinnati and
Xavier University were both surprised to see today’s announcement
concerning the future of the Crosstown Shootout. While both schools
are committed to the future of the Crosstown rivalry, specific
discussions are ongoing and no details have been finalized. We look
forward to sharing our plans with the community at an appropriate
time in the coming weeks.

The Music Hall Revitalization Co. will
meet Thursday to consider its next move after the city of Cincinnati
decided not to sell the historic building to the nonprofit
organization, prompting the resignation of the Revitalization Co.'s
leader. The resident arts organizations issued a joint statement
yesterday offering to work with the city and private donors to revive
the project in some form. Some arts supporters contend that local
philanthropic leaders will not donate to the project while it is city
owned.

In the wake of last season's Crosstown
Shootout melee, officials from UC and Xavier have decided to play the
annual game at U.S. Bank Arena for the next two seasons. The behavior
of players and fans will reportedly be evaluated after that time. The
game was scheduled to be played at UC's Fifth Third Arena this year.

The commercial space vehicle today
finally launched after shutting down its first attempt to fly to the
International Space Station without the government's help.
Exploration Technologies Corp.'s SpaceX rocket is scheduled to touch
down on May 25 and could help jumpstart the privatization of space
station servicing.

Is Brad Pitt's new film Killing Them
Softly an anti-capitalist screed? Pretty much.

Everything you need to know about
(writer-director Andrew) Dominik's worldview came with a moment in
the news conference in which the Australian said that in his
experience America is largely about making money, and that that went
double for Hollywood.

Or, as the film's touchstone piece of
dialogue has it: "America isn't a country -- it's a business.”

Ever wonder what would happen if the NBA rookie of the year dressed up like an old man and played ball with dudes at some random courts, with at least some of the players not knowing what's going on? Wonder no more:

After 18 months in the courts, Democrat
Tracie Hunter has won a Hamilton County Juvenile Court judgeship, but
a GOP challenge to the court's acceptance of Hunter's challenge is
likely to follow. Republican John Williams led hunter by 23 votes on
election night 2010, but Hunter filed a lawsuit over provisional
ballots cast at incorrect polling stations that weren't counted. After a
recount of 286 provisional ballots, Hunter moved ahead by 74 votes.
Republican board of election members reportedly plan to argue that
the 286 should not have been recounted.

The Enquirer's Mark Curnutte today
offered an analysis of recently released census data that shows a
steady growth of the regional Hispanic population and a growth of
minority population in areas outside the city that were once largely
white. Cincinnati's data suggests that the city and region are
slightly different than the nation's overall trend, which in 2011 for
the first time found a majority of the country's under 1-year-old
population minority (50.4 percent), up from 49.5 percent in 2010.

Included in The Enquirer's story, which
included a profile of a Mexican-American Florence family that moved
to Northern Kentucky eight years ago from Los Angeles:

A decrease of 1.3 percentage points in Hamilton County’s
black population under 5 was countered by increases in the black
population under 5 in each of the region’s six other core counties:
Butler, Clermont and Warren in Ohio and Boone, Campbell and Kenton in
Kentucky.

Overall, the regional population of Hispanic children under 5
years rose from 7,583 in 2010 to 8,032 in 2011, a proportional
increase of 0.4 percentage points to 6.1 percent.

The family of a teenager fatally shot
by a Cincinnati police officer on Fountain Square last summer has
filed a federal lawsuit alleging police used excessive force and
violated 16-year-old Davon Mullins' constitutional rights. Police
say Mullins pulled a handgun, but the lawsuit says he had been
disarmed before officer Oscar Cyranek shot him multiple times.

Former Senator John Edwards will learn
his fate today, as a jury was set to deliberate this morning on charges that Edwards used campaign funds to
conceal an affair during his run for president.

More than 200 pages of documents,
photos and audio recordings were released yesterday
offering further details about what happened the night George
Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin.

The documents include an FBI audio
analysis of the 911 call placed by a resident that captured yells and
screams. Two FBI examiners said they could not determine whether it
was Martin or Zimmerman yelling because of the poor quality of the
recording and the "extreme emotional state" of screamer.

Cell phone maker Nokia has accused
Apple of programming bias into its interactive Siri voice search by
making it answer the question “What is the best smartphone ever?”
by stating “"Wait... there are other phones?" The answer
had apparently previously been “Nokia's Lumia 900.” Apple won't
say whether or not it changed Siri's answer after finding the glitch.

A new study suggests that nighttime
fasting can go a long way toward keeping you slim even if you eat bad
stuff during the day.

The ongoing saga involving Cincinnati
Police Chief James Craig and his nonexistent policing powers will
continue into July, as a hearing scheduled for Thursday has been
continued. Craig's attorneys will argue in front of the Ohio Peace
Officer Training Commission that his prior experience, and
certification in three other states, should exempt him from a state
rule requiring all officers pass a certification exam before earning
police powers. Craig believes he was hired to do things other than
study for an entry-level policing test, and some states would already
have certified him.

A statewide ban on texting while
driving moved through the Ohio House of Representatives yesterday and
is expected to be signed into law by Gov. John Kasich. The law makes
the writing, sending or reading of a text message while driving a
secondary offense, meaning officers may not pull over an adult driver
for the act. Teens, however, under House Bill 99 will be prohibited
from using any electronic device other than GPS and may be pulled
over for it.

Kasich on Tuesday followed through with
the GOP plan to overturn its own controversial election law that was
to go before voters in November. State Republicans and election
officials now say there's no reason for the law to go in front of
voters thanks to the 300,000 signatures gathered by President Obama's
re-election campaign and other opponents, but opponents of the
election law point out that the repeal still reaffirms an election
law change that would end early voting the weekend before an
election. Democrats plan to keep the issue on the ballot.

But people on both sides of the issue
say there's no precedent for a legislative repeal of a bill that also
is the subject of a referendum, so it's unclear how a court might
rule if a legal challenge is filed.

Jennifer Brunner, a former Democratic
secretary of state and a leader in the Fair Elections Ohio campaign
that brought the referendum, said Tuesday that the action taken by
Gov. John Kasich and Legislature doesn't force the removal of the
question from November ballots.

"Since this issue is a case of
first impression for any court, we do not see the statement of the
Secretary of State to be determinative on this issue," Brunner
said in an email. "The issue remains on the ballot."

More drama from Columbus: Republicans
are moving forward with a test program requiring some welfare
recipients to submit to drug testing in order to continue receiving
benefits. Opponents say the process stigmatizes the poor, while the
GOP says it's just a simple process involving poor people paying the
upfront costs for drug tests, being reimbursed if they pass and
living on the streets for six months if they fail.

Northern Kentucky leaders plan to use
the revitalization of Over-the-Rhine as a model for reinvesting in
their urban core. A nonprofit organization has raised $10 million
during the past five years to get started spurring commercial and
residential investment.

Two Kentucky high school students who
were turned away from their senior prom for arriving as a same-sex
couple have argued that if their Catholic high school wants to ban
students based on upholding the church's teachings, such a
ban should include couples who have had premarital sex and kids who
plan to get wasted after the prom.

Apparently viewers of Harry's Law,
which was set in Cincinnati and used a stage-version of Arnold's as
the lawyer gang's regular hangout, are too old to attract advertising
dollars despite their relatively high numbers.

The show ranked very low among viewers
ages 18 to 49, the demographic most advertisers care about. In fact,
its young-adult numbers were beneath those for "Prime Suspect,"
a cop show that NBC canceled earlier this season, and roughly on par
with those of "Off Their Rockers," the Betty White show
about senior citizens pulling pranks on younger people.

"It was a difficult decision,"
an NBC executive said Sunday, quoted by the site Deadline.com.
"Everyone here respects 'Harry's Law' a lot but we were finding
it hard to grow the audience for it. Its audience skewed very old and
it is hard to monetize that."

We don't see much of Bush these days.
He's the president that a lot of people would like to forget, still
so toxic that he's widely considered more likely to hurt than
help the Republican Party by participating in the 2012 campaign.

Bush's speech Tuesday morning was a
rare exception. He spoke in a small, nondescript room to about 200
people about democracy activists, promoting a human rights campaign
that's part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

His presence on the national stage is
perhaps best seen in his presence on the small stage at 1777 F
Street. At the end of the affair, Bush and his wife were called back
up to be presented with writings by Czech human rights icon Vaclav
Havel. They posed for pictures as the audience clapped, and when they
were done, Bush glanced around as if unsure what to do next.

He walked back to his seat, but then
quickly walked back onto the stage and behind the lectern. He leaned
forward into the microphone, paused, and said slyly, "Thanks for
coming."

The private group hoping to purchase
Music Hall for $1 is now asking for $10 million in city contributions
to its effort to update the historic building, double the initial $5
million it asked for. The Music Hall Revitalization Co. says failing
to strike a deal before June 1 will jeopardize the proposed $165
million renovation. Among the updates the city is being asked to fund
are $75,000 buffers to block noise from the streetcar and a $150,000
escrow account to pay for any future disruptions due to the
streetcar.

City Council yesterday spent some time
considering ways to fix the city's retirement fund deficit.
Cincinnati's retirement board wants the city to contribute $67
million to the pension system this year, though Council has
reportedly contributed only about half of that.

CVG today will unveil its updated
Concourse A, which has undergone a $36.5 million renovation. It is part of the
airports attempt to lure a low-cost airline to the hub that formerly
housed Delta.

Cleveland is the first Ohio city to
open one of the state's four new casinos, drawing about 5,000 to a
grand opening last night. Cincinnati's casino is expected to be the
last of the four to open, with Hollywood casinos scheduled to open in
Toledo May 29 and in Columbus this fall. Cincinnati's' Horseshoe is
scheduled to open next year.

Prosecutors today decided to bring
charges against former News of the World editor Rebekah
Brooks, who along with her husband and four others will be charged
with conspiring to pervert the course of justice. The alleged
incidents occurred in response the phone hacking allegations, and the
charges are apparently quite embarrassing to Rupert Murdoch and
British Prime Minister David Cameron.

JP Morgan today said, “Surprise! We
lost a bunch of money!” Two years after congress tightened
regulations on Wall Street, the industry now fears that regulators
will now listen to their fears even less as they enact stricter
reforms.

National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar, responding to the
pressure, said Tuesday that the permit for her June 3 "Born This
Way Ball" concert had been denied.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more Muslims than
any other. Although it is secular and has a long history of religious
tolerance, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent
years.

Hard-liners have loudly criticized Lady Gaga, saying the
suggestive nature of her show threatened to undermine the country's
moral fiber. Some threatened to use physical force to prevent her
from stepping off the plane.